May: Week Two

Books Read:

• The Mystery of Mercy Close (Marian Keyes)
• The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way (Alice Walker)

It's wonderful to have finally begun my summer reading! And no better way to start than with Irish author Marian Keyes's latest book: The Mystery of Mercy Close is a book that Keyes's fans have been waiting for for years. The main character, Helen, is the youngest of the five Walsh sisters - Keyes has already written books about the four older sisters. Keyes is one of my favorite authors because she tackles heavy subjects in comedic fashion without taking away from the seriousness of whichever malady the main character suffers from. Helen has always been a source of comic relief in the earlier four Walsh sister books (she is a mean and scrappy private investigator), so I was curious to see what would happen to her. I wasn't surprised that the book involved a mystery, but this is not a mystery novel and the mystery itself ties more into Helen's struggles than provides a source of suspense. I usually try not to give away plot points in this blog, but we find out fairly early on that Helen has depression. However, I still wouldn't describe this as a "book about depression," just as I wouldn't describe any of Keyes's earlier books as "books about alcoholism" or "books about domestic violence." It's about Helen.

I picked up The Cushion in the Road after seeing it on the "New Books" display table at the library. I read Walker's The Color Purple back in March, so I was interested in this new collection of her essays and letters. I didn't read every essay in this book (some are very political), but I read and enjoyed the majority. Her essay on The Help was particularly thought-provoking. Others are very honest (as the full title of the book suggests) and read as calls to action. Worth reading, but it's a lot to absorb at one time. I read it over a period of two weeks, but this might be a better book to have purchased and read over a longer period of time - again, as the title suggests, many of her essays demand reflection.